A few months ago, I showed you how we build out our new 10Gbps network using a Synology NAS device as our central server. This setup is protecting us from a hard drive failure, but our data still isn't 100 percent safe. In this video, I'll show you one simple step to protect your files from all types of data loss.
There are three main types of data loss that we need to watch out for: hard drive failure, theft or fire, and accidental deletion or file corruption. All Synology NAS devices will automatically protect you from a hard drive failure, but we will need to back up our footage to an off-site location as well. If you have a reasonable amount of data, the easiest way to do this is to upload to the cloud or an offsite server managed by someone else.
Duplicating your data to the cloud will protect you in case of a fire or theft, but it won't protect against accidental deletion or file corruption. To protect against that, we will also need to save multiple iterations of each file every time they are edited. Luckily, Synology has automated software called Hyper Backup that can do all of this automatically for us in the background. In this video, I'll quickly show you what you need to do to set this up.
Thanks for this. I was thinking about one of the Synology NAS systems and I appreciate it a lot to see how the interface works and what functions it actually has.
no blackblaze? :( btw do somebody use hubiC?
You can use Backblaze B2 with a Synology NAS - use the CloudSync app in the Synology software and set it up with your Backblaze B2 account.
Do be aware though - using a NAS with Backblaze can only be done using their B2 service, not their normal unlimited backup for $5. B2 charges by the GB so if you have a lot of data it can end up costing a lot of money (I cancelled my Backblaze B2 backup from my Synolgoy NAS because it started costing me over $100 per month!).
I have a Synology NAS, all data are protected, bur when the system drive failed the NAS couldn’t start. When replacing the systemit will not remount the other drives unless I reformat them. What good is redundancy when the system it self is not redundant.
A NAS is what's called a 'hot' back up, it's not a full back up solution as you should have an off-site solution such another NAS (which I do, I have one at home and one at work) or using a LTO drive. You should have systems of redundancy for the NAS failing (or any of the devices). You should also periodically check for data rot/corruption.
If the unit fails you can recover data using Linux:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/8399/recovering-data-from-a-failed-synolo...
There's also a lot of EXT3/4 reader software available on Windows. But what I suggest most is having as many USB drives as the capacity of the NAS, directly connected to the NAS and configure the NAS to do a daily backup on them. The offsite backup is useful as a disaster recovery because retrieving data from the internet in many countries with poor connection speeds could be very slow.
"A NAS is what's called a 'hot' back up"
I think you have a mistaken letter there ... a NAS (or specifically RAID) is Not a backup. Redundancy is different from a backup. The term RAID even tells you what it is ... a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (or Devices).
In other words having a NAS with RAID is never a substitute for backup.
It forms part of a back up solution just as a SAN would in a real time data scenario, hence the terms hot, warm and cold back up. Hot is real time access to files , warm is occasional access but not real time and cold means data held in storage with no real requirement for access immediately. Think of it this way: Hot - SAN/NAS or DAS , Warm - external HDD and Cold - LTO tapes or DVD discs.
If you are storing your data on a separate device and it's a duplicate of data held elsewhere, that's a back up. The RAID array allows for data integrity ensuring minimal risk to your data (especially with SHR1 or 2 for the parity data disks). A NAS uses RAID but it's seen as a single entity just as a RAID card would show multiple drives in an array would.
Back up is about redundancy, you use as many media types as you can and different locations.
Darius... a NAS is only a hot backup if it is the first COPY of the data. For example if you store your photos on OSX and have a 5 minute TimeMachine backup ... that is (essentially) a “hot” backup. A hot backup being a backup taken while the data is still accessible / in use to the system ... in the context of a photographer, a better term would be online and offline backups - online being immediately accessible / offline meaning you need to find the relevant disc / tape / optical media (and off site being offline stored away from your home / office).
RAID is not a backup, it’s about ensuring data is always available. If you use a modern FileSystem such as ZFS it also provides for data integrity (“bit rot” protection). A NAS may also provide snapshoting another tool in your backup arsenal. But it’s not a backup in itself (though using a NAS can be *part* of a backup system).
Wasn't that what I said? I know about RAID, I've been involved IT Project Management for data centres and mainframes for 40 years. So I should know about back up routines, hardware and how to manage it.
For reference I have two NAS these are mirrored. One on-site and one- off-site, this is a duplicate of the data stored on the workstation (which is now approaching 30Tb built using Windows Storage Spaces/ReFS). On top of this I use LTO 7 tapes to archive the NAS and workstation on a weekly basis. RAID in this instance is irrelevant as that's at the device block level transparent to the linked hardware, albeit all it does is ensure up time for the NAS which are both linked to a UPS. LTO tapes are stored at a third site, across the country geographically.
So please, stop conflating RAID and Back Up, as you're misinterpreting was I've written.
has anyone got an idea about how to do this with QNAP?
On QNAP I'm using Hybrid Backup Sync although it doesn't have the versioning function that is pretty handy.
We have a similar box and we have it backing up to Dropbox business. We are over 50TB up there now.
Which business plan are you on? £15 per month for unlimited storage, sounds like a great deal compared to Backblaze B2. Do you sync Dropbox from a Synology NAS?
Good article and comments. I have a NAS system and a RAID server for redunancy, both in the studio. I keep backups at home and in a safety deposit box at the bank, rotated daily and monthly. I don't trust cloud storage, I've had more failures there than anywhere.